Kriegerin des Lichts
by BlackBlood1872
Summary: If there's one thing Karin hates, it's being useless. She decides to fix that. AU [Oneshot, Complete]


_Kriegerin des Lichts  
_ _Summary: If there's one thing Karin hates, it's being useless. She decides to fix that. AU  
_ _Genre: Drama probably. And? Family?_

 _Opening note: this is an AU from the beginning of the series, and mostly focuses on Karin. Characters may be OoC, I don't know. I'll let you guess Isshin's reasons yourself. Spoilers up to, like, chapter 547, I don't know. I haven't read further than that, so this is probably not canon-complacent. Oops.  
_ _The title is a super massive clue, by the way._

* * *

Karin Kurosaki could see spirits.

This has always been a fact, just like her brother Ichigo could see them, and how her twin sister Yuzu couldn't _quite_ see them.

Karin Kurosaki didn't believe in ghosts.

This, also, has always been true. Or, at least, it's been true for so long that everyone around her believed it was an _always_.

But Karin Kurosaki used to believe in ghosts. She believed in them when she couldn't tell the difference between the living and the dead, and when all she could see were people with chains attached to their chests.

She stopped believing, _rejected_ her belief, when she started seeing monsters.

Ichi-nii couldn't see them. His eyes always passed right over them, saw through them, and that scared her. Though to be fair, she only saw them when they were far away, and it could be that Ichigo just never noticed. But not seeing wasn't not hearing. They never came close to her, but she could hear the screams of the ghosts they chased, the screams that cut off halfway through only to be replaced by the sounds of eating.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened. And she tried to hide her nightmares from Yuzu, with differing results.

Sometimes, she woke with only a gasp and tangled sheets, and she could calm down and keep quiet. She was a little tired and a little jumpy those days, but no one really noticed. Ichigo subconsciously worried about her a little more, and Yuzu chatted extra cheerfully to cover her silence, but no one said anything.

Other nights, she woke to her sister, her brother, her father, shaking her shoulder, her throat raw from screaming. Those nights, her imagination would get away from her, would take the clues she had, the sounds she'd heard, the monsters she saw, and create the scenes she never witnessed. Giant monsters with grinning masks, biting into faded out people, chomping, chewing, bone splintering and blood flowing–

Those were the days she got to stay home, the days she shook too much to move, the days her father – goofy, insane, but immensely caring – would hold her close until she fell back to sleep and tried to keep the nightmares away.

It would work, and she'd be fine after a dreamless night, and she would go back to school. But then she'd see the monsters again, hear the shouts and cries, faint enough that they were almost not there, and it was all start again.

And the worse of it all? She was powerless to stop it.

* * *

There was a box in their attic. Karin figured her father thought they didn't know about it, because he'd never mentioned it to them.

The box was full of her mother's things. There were books with their edges worn from constant thumbing through, and a few knickknacks that Karin vaguely remembered from the mantle. There was a hair ribbon she remembered playing with as a small child, one that her mother used to tie up her hair on warmer days. Old photos covered the bottom of the box, edges as wore as the book pages, and Karin would bet anything that her father looked through this box often.

There was also a bracelet, a silver chain with a cross, that Karin didn't remember. It was odd, because as far as she knew, her mother wasn't of that faith, but if it was in the box, it must have been hers. And it... felt like her, felt like something stable and warm, and almost without her permission, Karin grabbed it and slipped it onto her left wrist.

It almost felt like it sang, a sound that was too high for the human ear, and Karin felt that serenity settle over her, into her soul, and she sighed contently.

Karin didn't take off the bracelet, and used the cold weather as an excuse to where one of her long-sleeved shirts, better to cover her new accessory.

When it warmed up, she wore her usual t-shirts and pretended like she couldn't see the odd glances her family gave her.

It was a little harder to ignore the shock on Isshin's face the first split second he saw the bracelet, but when he didn't say anything, she didn't either.

She never took the bracelet off.

* * *

There was a boy in her brother's class that had a similar bracelet. Karin never met him, since they were in different grades and he wasn't Ichigo friend, so she didn't have the chance to ask him about it.

She could feel something from him, though. A little buzz at the edge of her perception, and she frowned a little more every time he was near. She didn't know what it was, but it felt like a more focused version of the feeling her brother gave off, and she ended up blaming it on _ghost things_.

Karin would bet anything that Ishida could see the ghosts and monsters around town. And if the dangerous tone of his energy meant anything, she would bet that he fought them off.

* * *

Summer came and the girl that was living with them vanished. Her brother and his friends – which seemed to involve Ishida now, huh – said they were going to a camp, and they left too.

Karin woke the first day to what felt like an empty house. But her sister was still sleeping near her, and when she wandered downstairs, Goat-face was doing paperwork on the couch. But there was definitely something missing in the air, and she didn't know what it was.

Isshin glanced up when she dropped into the chair next to the couch, and quirked a smile her way.

"Odd without Ichigo here, huh?" he said and Karin nodded, frowning.

"Yeah..." she mumbled. "Odd." _Empty_ , was what she wanted to add, but she didn't know how much her father knew, how much he could see, so she didn't say anything.

Her right hand moved to the pendant, and she rolled it between her fingers, taking comfort in the pulse of warmth she felt from it. It was almost like mom was back, even though it'd been six years and she was never–

"Where did you find that, by the way?" her father asked, snapping her from her growing melancholy. She clasped it in her hand, hiding it, and fought against the urge to deny its existence.

"It was in mom's box," she said, eyeing Isshin's reaction. He froze for a second, then nodded slowly.

"I... didn't think any of you would find it," he admitted quietly. Paperwork forgotten, he rubbed his face tiredly, elbows on his knees.

Karin watched him and bit her lip, warring with herself – but went for it, because she _ha_ _d_ to know. "What is this?" she asked him, finally letting it go and holding up her arm.

Isshin looked at the charm like someone lost and Karin almost backed off, almost said _'just forget it'_ , but then her father spoke again and he sounded bittersweet. "It's Masaki's Quincy Kreuz."

 _Quincy_. Somehow, in the back of her mind, that meant something. She didn't know what, though, because this was the first time she heard the term. But it was important and she stared at her father flatly, one eyebrow raised as she waited for him to continue.

He chuckled, a faraway look in his eye. "You know how you can see ghosts, right? You and Ichigo and Yuzu to a lesser extent? That... it comes from the both of us, really, but your mother and I were different. Your mom was a Quincy, but I'm a Shinigami."

 _Shinigami_. Now, that she could guess on.

"'Death god'?" Karin parroted, face carefully blank. But... Shinigami were _spirits_. And _everyone_ could see her father just fine...

"Yeah," Isshin chuckled again, but there was something less than humorous about it. "And it means pretty much what you'd think."

"What, that you're actually a dead guy?" Karin deadpanned. Isshin winced and sighed.

"Yes. This," he waved a hand at his chest, "is a gigai. It's a false body I got so I could live here as a human – or, as much of one as I'll ever be. Your mother though... she was human. Quincy are, but they've got more reiatsu – the stuff you need to see spirits – than normal humans and that means she could see everything–"

"Like those monsters," Karin cut in, swallowing. Isshin snapped his head up to stare at her.

"So you can see them" Isshin murmured. "Those are Hollows – spirits that lost their hearts. Shinigami fight them, purify their souls so that can pass onto Soul Society. Quincy..." and here, Isshin broke off, closing his eyes. "Quincy arrows can kill a Hollow too, but then they don't pass on. Quincy arrows destroy Hollows utterly."

"And destroy the soul that made the Hollow?"

"Yes."

"That sounds... scary." Karin tried to think of it objectively, though. If a Hollow was around and the only person able to fight it and keep the people around them alive was a Quincy... was that so bad?

Still. _Destroying_ that soul – souls, if it ate ghosts? – wasn't a very good prospect. Did the Shinigami _know_ that that was what happened? If the souls didn't go to Soul Society, maybe they just went somewhere else.

Karin couldn't believe that a human – even one with powers like that – could _destroy_ a _soul_.

"What about Ichigo?" she asked suddenly. Isshin furrowed his brow, and she continued with: "If mom's a Quincy, and you're this spirit thing, and both of us can see ghosts, doesn't that mean he inherited a power or something?"

"Aa, right. He did. He's..." Isshin smiled a touch fondly. "He's a Shinigami, actually. But still alive, so it's kind of weird to see him as a spirit."

Karin didn't know what to think of that. "Ichi-nii's... dead?" she tired to clarified. But her dad had said... "Except... he's _not_ , at the same time?" It hurt her head to think about.

"As I said. Weird."

"So where did he go, really?" Karin pressed, frowning again. "He's not really out camping, is he? And where did Rukia go?"

Isshin looked startled for a second, then pushed past it. "They've gone to Soul Society. Rukia... did something against the law there, and she's going to be executed. Your brother's going to save her."

Well. That sounded like something Ichigo would do. He was always running around, _protecting_ things. _Honestly_.

"How come he's the only one with powers?" Karin wondered absently, not really directing that at her father, but more at the world in general. She saw Isshin staring at her, small frown on his face, and when he opened his mouth, he sounded hesitant.

"Would you... like to have some of your own?"

Karin remembered all the Hollows she'd seen, all the times she woke feeling restless and _useless_ , and nodded.

Isshin stared for another long moment, then stood, motioning for her to follow. "I'll show you to a friend of mine. He's... more qualified to teach you than me, considering..." he glanced at her bracelet, and Karin suddenly knew just what he was doing, who he was taking her to.

"There's another Quincy in Karakura?"

"Ryūken Ishida," Isshin agreed. "He'll know how to train you."

* * *

The Ishida home was very tidy, very white, and felt as clinical as the hospital Ryūken ran.

It also had maids, something Karin _never_ thought she'd see. It was almost like the Ishida's were nobility or something.

"No," was the first thing Ryūken said when he opened the door and saw Isshin standing there. Isshin hadn't even said anything.

"Hey–" Karin protested indignantly, surging out from behind her father to scowl at the man. He frowned down at her, glasses flashing in the sun so she couldn't see his eyes, but that didn't deter her. "At least listen to what we've got to say, damn it!"

"Karin," her father shushed her, one hand on her shoulder, squeezing in reprimand. She winced, but stepped back with a slight bow of her head.

"Very well," Ryūken murmured. He glanced back at Isshin, one eyebrow raised. "Why have you come here, Isshin? You haven't visited in six years."

 _Six years_. Not since mom–

"There wasn't really any reason for me to, was there?" Isshin shot back, voice monotone. _Dead_. He didn't take reminders of Masaki's death very well, even after all this time and even with his antics.

"But there's reason now?" Ryūken wondered. He crossed his arms, leaning against the doorjamb, and his eyes darted to Karin for all of a second.

"You know where your son's gone off to this summer," Isshin said, ignoring how Ryūken frowned at the reminder. "Karin feels... left out–" he also ignored Karin's protest "–and she wanted to learn how to fight in that world as well."

"Why not take her to your exile friend?" Ryūken countered, looking very bored.

Isshin hesitated, then sighed heavily. "She found her cross," he said finally.

Ryūken stood upright, staring completely at Karin now. His eyes drifted down to her wrists, and Karin obediently held up her left, the silver chain glinting in the sunlight. Some strange expression flashed across his face, too fast for Karin to see properly, but what little she caught looked like grief. She let her arm drop and settled her gaze somewhere around Ryūken's ear.

"...Very well," the man said, a long minute later.

And that was how it began.


End file.
